A SAFARI tour operator on Exmoor is back in business after a thief forced it to lose hundreds of pounds of trade.

Exmoor Safaris, run from the Exmoor White Horse Inn at Exford, had the eight-seater Land Rover that transports its nature hunters stolen early on Sunday morning.

But yesterday (Thursday) the vehicle was found abandoned in the gateway to a field at Bishops Tawton, near Barnstaple.

A farmer made the discovery and contacted the inn, whose logo and details were on the vehicle, which was actually locked.

The thief - a man believed to be in his 20s or 30s - was caught on the hotel's CCTV system and was seen rummaging around in the reception area, searching for vehicle keys, at about 7.20am on the day the vehicle disappeared.

"We've actually got quite good images of him," said a Exmoor White Horse Inn spokesman.

"He was quite scruffy, wearing dark jeans, white shoes and a black beanie hat with an Yves St Laurent badge on the front."

Inn owner Peter Hendrie had actually seen the man shortly before the theft while walking his dogs.

"He asked Peter if there was anywhere he could get a taxi because he needed to get to Barnstaple," said the spokesman.

"He wasn't local and at that time in the morning he would have stuck out like a sore thumb in the village."

The CCTV footage shows the man talking on his mobile phone outside the inn just after stealing the keys.

"There were three Land Rovers in the car park and he probably wasn't sure which keys he had."

The Inn contacted the Free Press to launch an appeal for help in tracking down the vehicle, which it hoped may have been abandoned. And it even offered a free safari trip to anyone who found it.

The inn had to pass its bookings for this week to a rival operator.

"We're just glad to have our Land Rover back," said the spokesman. "We don't think there is any damage to it so we're expecting to be up and running again next week."